My recent baking efforts have found me operating at the gluten-free end of the kitchen (with varying degrees of success) but I felt that these little golden cups should be made in all of their gluten-filled glory first, before taking any recipe detours (and I can do that ‘cos I’m not the one on the gluten-free diet). I took advantage of the absence of she-who-is-avoiding-gluten to make a batch…

Ah, such addictive little gems. The first lot were barely finished, and gluten-free sis had returned, when Tassies Mark II made their debut after a very successful gluten-free makeover. This was, however, not before I first (a) discovered the existence of and (b) discounted the use of, gluten-free vanilla. The theory that says there is gluten in vanilla extract is based on the premise that the alcohol involved in making the extract is usually derived from gluten-containing grains. I happened across an interesting post here which argues that the gluten doesn’t survive the distillation process and that a good natural vanilla extract is just fine. That’s what I chose to use here.

Walnut Tassies

This is essentially the Gourmet Magazine tassie formula, with walnuts substituted for pecans, and a little more added vanilla. I have also replaced the cup measurements with weights. Even though I possess a set of US measuring cups, I’m more naturally inclined to use my weighing scales. Thus the only cups involved in this recipe are the tassies themselves, little cups of dough holding a glorious walnut filling.

Mmm, the cranberries sound like an interesting addition! I also thought, as I was making them, that you could replace the vanilla with a splash of something like madeira or brandy for an extra-festive flavour.